[HamiltonJay]

And I'll bet you that Google is still the number 1 search engine a year from now.

MS and MSN have tried their darndest online to become anything other than a periferal player, in both ISP and SEARCH and have never managed to be.

MS has not offered any new technologies or better performance than what others have offered at all in this area, and there is no expectation they will be any time soon.

MSMoney still can't take out Quicken... and I don't think MS Search is going to do any better. You don't have to like it, but a decade of track record online shows MS is not a serious threat to anyone.

[KwasiOwusu]

"And I'll bet you that Google is still the number 1 search engine a year from now"

I am not that worried about that.
Important thing is: Microsoft will have a higher market share a year from today than they have today.
That will be the beginning of catching up with and eventually overtaking Google in the years to come.
It took Microsoft over 6 years to overtake Palm in the PDA market.
Microsoft has plenty of money, and lots of patience.
This is am marathon, not a sprint.
We are not talking a year, but years from now.
I like Microsoft's chances.

[KwasiOwusu]

"MS and MSN have tried their darndest online to become anything other than a periferal player, in both ISP and SEARCH and have never managed to be"

Msn portal is currently the # 2 web portal on the planet in terms of traffic generated, only challenged by Yahoo and to some extent AOL. And msn is solidly profitable, and has registered sales increases every single quarter for the past 3 years.

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=483

I don't call that a "peripheral player".
As for Msn ISP, I already stated above that Microsoft should et out of that business.
Its a low profit commodity business, not beneficial to Microsoft's long term strategic interests.
Even AOL, the biggest ISP has been suffering financially for years now.